Category Archives: Pitching a Story

In the movie “The Player” a Hollywood studio executive played by Tim Robbins, takes time to listen to ‘Pitches’ for movies. He goes from one appointment to the next. This is in fact very true to the way movies are seeded. Without a good pitch the executive simply passes. He or she cannot waste time – time is money!

There is a chance that we will someday be called to ‘pitch’ our story. And just like the Hollywood executive we need to make the strongest possible impression in the shortest period of time.

Mistakes Often Made

When I ask a new writer to tell me what their story is about often you’ll hear them rambling.

“It’s about a dog that runs away from home only to find that life on the other side isn’t all that’s cracked up to be. The dog eventually find a friend who is a cat. They go on this crazy adventure and end up in trouble in the local pound. Then…”

The story is often convoluted and full of twists and turns. However, to truly grasp a reader or potential readers interest you need to be capable of describing your story within one or two sentences.

Here are some examples:

The Godfather

A war hero returns home to rise to the top of the family mafia empire

Cinderella

An orphan manages to escape the evil clutches of her step family and marry a prince

Terminator

An evil robot is sent back in time to thwart a future uprising by killing the mom of the uprising’s leader

Then, of course, once you get the person’s attention you are now free to build on that premise.